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July 18, 2013

The Loneliest Creature On Earth

In 1989, Naval stations on the Pacific coast picked up unidentifiable sounds in the ocean. And when analysts realized it was a whale, they noticed it was vocalizing at a frequency different than any other whale song ever recorded.

In this story, contributor Lilly Sullivan explores the world around what’s become known as the 52-hertz Whale, named after its higher-than-average singing frequency. When it calls out, it never gets a response, so scientists theorize it’s unable to hear – or be heard – by other whales.

People have written poems and songs about it, and because whales such as this one live almost 100 years, some have started calling it another name: "The Loneliest Creature on Earth."

Larry and Ellen Johnson have lived in the Gulf Coast area their entire life and run a local seafood business called High Tide Foods. They catch and sell shrimp, oysters and crabs just as their parents did and their kids and grandkids are doing now. But as oil courses into the Gulf for the third straight month, the future of their business and their way of life is unclear.

Three people comment on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: Colonel Daniel Bordelon, the Commander of the Engineer Task Force with the Louisiana National Guard; Michael Ziccardi, director of The Oiled Wildlife Care Network; David Morris, Emergency Response consultant specializing in oil spills.

The idea of using renewable energy has been bounced around by both presidential candidates. Their ads feature wind turbines, which they've made a point of mentioning in their stump speeches. Pete Ferrell is a fourth generation rancher, and sees himself as a steward of the land rather than a property owner. Since the late 1800s, his family has found ways to harness wind power. Now Pete has turned half his ranch into a wind farm. Also in this episode, Phil DuMas was waiting to board a flight while drinking a huge cup of coffee. When he finally reached the ticket counter, he was doing what his family nicknames "the pee pee dance." When the attendant asked him what was wrong, Phil explained he had a case of "PPD." Little did he know that airline personnel understand PPD to mean "paranoid personality disorder."